Dear Harvey
Posted by Erik | Filed under poetry
I went to your memorial last Thursday
but you were not there
in your place was an old photo
you on your horse
full head of poorly cut hair
accidentally hip.
The woman spoke about energy, afterlife
and rejoining your ancestors
while we bowed our heads
you reached into your holster
drew your revolver
and took pot shots.
If you didn’t want your bronzed baby booties displayed in public
you should’ve mentioned it while you had the chance, cowboy.
Published in little bang, Volume 1, Number 1, 2008
Tags: death, little bang, poetry
Time, Through Windows
Posted by Erik | Filed under music, sound, spoken-word, video, visual, word
Time, Through Windows explores the perception of time, using the passage from spring to winter as a metaphor for the artist’s father’s cycle of life—from child to elder. Music and spoken dialog work in combination with video to create a six-piece narrative that invites the audience into an intimate durational experience. This work, presented as a circular grouping of six audio/video pairs, acts as a vehicle for the audience to contemplate that which might normally go overlooked.
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Tags: audio, cycle, durational, father, lens, narrative, perspective, rythym, spoken-word, video, visual
It’s All About Time
Posted by Erik | Filed under spoken-word, video
I am in the middle of the woods, looking for artistic inspiration. I was supposed to be here the year prior, but my father had succumbed to illness and I chose to stay with him. These woods are not real. They were brought here and planted to match someone’s design layout. I continue to walk for a few hours until I come upon something as out of place as a city-dweller visiting a fake forest a year late. I find a huge stone in the middle of this man-made wilderness. I study the stone, looking for signs of a struggle. I find none and turn away. And then, out of the corner of my eye, I see the rock has moved. This will take some time to figure out.
Though often overlooked, I believe the material surrounding the deliberate “content” acts as a lens by which we interpret that content. I explore this material in my work, looking for ways to present a unique perspective on the pedestrian. It’s All About Time investigates the perception of time and how that influences our lives and memories.
Tags: death, durational, father, lens, spoken-word, stop-motion, time, video, visual, voice
Treading Thoughts
Posted by Erik | Filed under visual, word
Rather than the music, I am interested in the silence found between notes. As important as the words, I am drawn to the sounds a person makes when in the process of thinking what to say next. I refer to this phenomenon as treading thoughts. When a creative person is in the middle of an improvisation, he reaches a point near the end of an idea or phrase where he is not quite sure what comes next. The resulting outcome cannot be completely planned while at the same time it is not completely new. It is a synthesis of the rehearsed and the randomness coming out of the moment—sometimes a mistake but more often a wonderful synergy. A professor I studied under used to refer to this as a “happy accident,” displaying his contempt for anything he could not control or plan. “Happiness” is underrated.
A Fact of Modern Life
Posted by Erik | Filed under design, music, sound, spoken-word
The piece may seem at first to be the antithesis of the majority of the work I do, with simplicity replaced with a cacophony of spoken text. However, it is about the rhythm found in the repetition and the contextual shifting that can occur. The Chicago poetry slam is an influence in this area of my work.
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Tags: audio, repetition, rythym, simplicity, spoken-word
My Last Visit
Posted by Erik | Filed under poetry
Cold meat covered in thin white cotton.
One foot protrudes.
Mouth agape, drools silently.
Teeth removed, stored neatly on the roll-away table.
As if you might get warm,
or wake up and need to chew.
Sourness—a look or a feeling? I’m
not sure. Mislabeled television controls.
I’ll see what I can do to fix this
error.
Published in little bang, Volume 1, Number 1, 2008
Tags: death, little bang, poetry
Kent
Posted by Erik | Filed under poetry
I love you, I told him
Meals on wheels didn’t come ’til three o’clock
He’s pissed
I love you too, he said, trying to swallow it back down
*
Rewind, thirty years:
Leisure suit and perm aside,
Dad’s never changed
Trouble with women, he says, they just want to be happy
He never remarried
Thanksgiving with my Mom—Christmas with Dad
I came home after college
He was an old man
*
He reads glossy magazines
Schools me on pop culture
On his 78th birthday he asked for Moby
Though lately he prefers punk
When I was young, I had this dream my dad was shot
in the chest with a cannonball
He came home in this dream; I could see right through
the big round hole
The wound was clean, as if he were made of cookie dough
I couldn’t bring myself to touch him
*
Gave my dad a hug the other day
We repaired his iTunes
Picked over cold lunchmeat
Snapped a few pictures, said goodbye
Three days later—snail-mail from Dad
Scrawled across the back of a carefully folded article
About Balinese Hip Hop:
I love you, too
Published in little bang, Volume 1, Number 1, 2008
Tags: culture, itunes, little bang, old age, poetry, time
Burning Word
Posted by Erik | Filed under design, word
Literary magazine and forum
visit site
Burning Word is an interactive literary magazine. In addition to the twelve person editorial staff, Burning Word publishes featured submissions from authors around the globe. The site is also well known for its forums, which allow writers to receive feedback and help from fellow authors and readers. The site was designed and developed to allow staff and users with little or no technical knowledge to input, edit, and publish content whenever they desire, 24/7. Burning Word is a 2002 SXSW (South by South-West) winner of the web design award.
Tags: fiction, literary, poetry, website
ekpages: urban art
Posted by Erik | Filed under design, visual, word
Visual interactive
Status: Offline.
Exhibiting graffiti as an art form, ekpages was created to bring creative minds together in a mutual appreciation for all art, and for each other. The site functioned as a creative resource from April 1996 to August 2003. The best content from ekpages will be added to this site, as time permits.